SACRAMENTO -- The state agency investigating a propane accident north of Chico plans to give the burned worker weeks at the hospital, if not a month, before interviewing him.

The Reliance Propane Service employee had burns on much of his body and was in "bad shape," said Peter Melton, spokesman for state Department of Industrial Relations, known as Cal/ OSHA. Melton said he cannot release the man's name and was unsure what his exact condition was at the hospital.

"He's alive, at least," Melton said.

On Oct. 30, the man had filled up his delivery truck with propane from a tank on Anita Road when the fuel ignited, burning him. State investigators are still unsure what started the fire, Melton said.

A truck driver sitting in the office of Shasta Vista Almond Huller put out the fire and helped the man cool himself off with a hose while the huller owner called 9-1-1. A helicopter took the man to UC Davis Hospital's burn unit in Sacramento.

Multiple calls to Reliance Propane Service were not returned by deadline Tuesday.